The solar industry has been struggling amid higher interest rates.
Dreamstime
Shares of
Canadian Solar
were falling sharply after the company fell short on quarterly earnings and sales.
It’s the latest in a line of solar companies struggling in a high-interest-rate environment.
Canadian Solar (ticker: CSIQ) posted third-quarter earnings per share of 32 cents, down from $1.12 a year earlier and well below Wall Street estimates for 82 cents, according to FactSet.
Revenue of $1.85 billion fell short of estimates of $2.03 billion. Solar module shipments rose 39% in the period.
The company said for the fourth quarter it expects total revenue between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion. Analysts were estimating revenue of $2.65 billion.
The company also said it has $2.6 billion in e-Storage contracted backlog as of Nov. 14. About half of that is expected deliveries for 2024 that are likely to boost margins, aided by a favorable cost environment. E-Storage is Canadian Solar’s utility-scale battery energy storage unit and platform.
“We delivered solid profitability in the third quarter of 2023 with continued progress on our capacity diversification, despite lower-than-expected market-demand growth due to the higher interest-rate environment driving higher inventories in certain markets,” said Chairman and CEO Shawn Qu in the earnings release.
The broader solar industry has been having a tough time lately—largely due to high interest rates, which have made it more challenging for consumers to finance solar installations. This year, Canadian Solar stock has dropped 36%,
Array Technologies
(ARRY) has fallen 23%,
First Solar
(FSLR) has declined 3.1%,
Sunrun
(RUN) was off 56%, and
Enphase Energy
(ENPH) has plummeted 67%.
Canadian Solar stock was down 10% to $18.82 on Tuesday.
Write to Emily Dattilo at [email protected]
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